Saturday, 30 April 2016

It has been a super slow month for Retro Purchases, in fact I havent spent much on myself at all, there is not a real reason its a mix of a few tiny things. One is that I havent really seen many games at a price I have liked, either they have been being sold for far too much, or the ones I have seen have been in stupidly bad condition. The other main reason is simply that I decided to spend my money on other people, I for one got my daughter an Xbox One because she has been doing really well at school and is just a credit to me in general. I have never liked paying through the nose for games anyway the thing I like about retro games is the thrill of the chase if you spend £10 on a game worth £10 theres no fun or glory there.

On April the 9th I went in to a charity shop and found a few games. I got Smack Down 2 for the playstation one complete for 50pence, Porsche Challange for the playsation one complete for 50pence and Pro Cast Sports Fishing for the xbox complete for 50pence. I already own Smack Down 2 but looking at this copy the disc was in practically perfect condition which made me decide that I hould buy it. I grabbed the Pro Cast Sports Fishing because It was made by Capcom and there a company I cant help but have a fondness for.

On the 14th of April I went in to a charity shop and grabbe Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monster Coliseum complete for the PS2 for £4 and Thunerhawk 2 FireStorm complete for ps1 (platinum edition) for £1. I also recieved a Snes cart I had orderd from online, Top Gear 2 I already own it but it was £3 with free potage, it was advertised as being american but when it arrived I found out that it was a Pal cart.

On April the 23rd I picked up a complete copy of Pariah for the Xbox for 50pence from a pawn store. I grabbed a few more games from there on the 25th The Tale of Despereaux complete for wii for 50pence and Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 complete for wii for £1.

I ended the month by buying Commandos 2 Men of courage for ps2 for 75pence complete

and Delta Force Black Hawk Down Team Sabre for 75pence complete on the 29th of this month.

I know I do this every month but I cant help but realise how sort of crazy it is keeping an account of the cash I have spent on retro games and the days I have brought them, thank goodness I dont do this with modern games or with my day to day household purchases if I did then I would be really worried I have some form of obsessive compulsive disorder.

Saturday, 23 April 2016

2016 Feels like it has been a bad year to be a famous legend of yesteryear, we have lost lots of great people and I could talk about them all but with this forum being about the kind of things its about I have chosen to write about two who have recently departed one because of there impact on the world of wrestling and the other because he was the star of one of my favourate films, a film which like a lot of the films I like has a sort of B movie style reputation.I will handle the first today.

So who am I talking about? Well I am talking about the '9th Wonder of the World, AKA Chyna or to go by her real name Joanie Laurer. Now I have been meaning to write about Chyna for a long time basically for two reasons one would be her contribution to the Attitude era of the WWE, one of my favourate era's and the other would be because of the WWE Hall of Fame. Basically she is not in the hall of Fame because Triple H the big dick weasel that he is does not think that she should be in it because ''she did porn films'' or at least that is his story and he has been sticking to it for years, Chyna is actually his X girlfriend though, His X girlfriend he cheated on with Stephanie McMahnn his current Wife. Lets ignore this bullshit, the truth is I havnt seen her porn, I have no desire to see her porn not because I am a prude or anything just because I have no desire to see Chyna like that, I see Chyna as an awesome wrestler and thats how I will always see her. Apparently both HHH and Stephanie have posted condolences and this makes it more likly that she might end up in the hall, but thats little bit of too little too late, it seems like the Woman has basically ended up dead from a broken heart, from the fact shes been shunned so much in life and had her name pulled through the dirt... Yes she did porn, she used her body to make money, but it was her body and it was her business what she did with it, no one should have the right to shit on her and drag her through the dirt for it, if you dont want to see it, then dont watch it, if your scared your kids might see it as HHH claims well if it wasnt Chyna's knockers they saw it wouldnt erase the whole porn industry it would just be a diffrent set of knockers.... put aside that and remember her for her career and what she gave to the wrestling industry.

Ok so a bit about her career, this is to both pay respect to her and show I think she had a Hall of Fame worthy career and should have got in for it as apposed to a post death sympathyentry.Laurer first rose to prominence in the World Wrestling Federation in 1997, where she performed as Chyna and was billed as the "Ninth Wonder of the World" which in of itself was a pretty big deal as they hadnt used the wonder of the world gimic since the late great André the Giant who wass billed as the eighth wonder of the world, if they were willing to put Chyna in to the same category as the Giant I think that shows something from the get go about how they viewed her skills and talent potential back in the day. She was a founding member of one of the most popular wrestling stables D-Generation X (even if this seems to have been downplayed in recent years with history being alterd in the editing suit), she held the WWF Intercontinental Championship a typically male belt in fact she is the only female performer to have ever done so and more than that she did it twice. She was also the WWF Women's Championship once. She did a heck of a lot of firsts for a female wrestler, she was the first Woman to participate in both the Royal Rumble and the King of the Ring events, and was the first and to my knowledge only woman to become the number one contender for the main WWF Championship. She didnt just beat rubbish has been or never was male wrestlers either she had singles victories over several prominent male wrestlers including several multiple-time world champions the likes of Triple H, Kurt Angle, and Chris Jericho.

I know people will retaleate against this with ''she did porn'' but I think the woman was a role model for women, no I am not saying every woman should be a wrestler and should choke slam a man from the top turnbuckle, what I am saying is a woman should be what she is inside regardless of if its deemed normal by society or not. Chyna had one of the best theme songs in wreslting in my oppinion and its because it reflectd her so well particularly the line ''Dont Treat me like woman, dont treat me like a man, just treat me for who I am'' if thats not a cry for equality then I dont know what is. I dont see Chyna as a good wrestler for a Woman I see her as a Legend of the industry and from all the times I have seen her talk I actually think that despite her hard exteria she had a soft center to her and I am deeply saddend to hear that she passed when she did and that she never got the recognition or support she truly deserved.. If my kid looked up Chyna and saw that she did porn Id say ''Yes she did, but she also was a legendery wrestler and a teacher, and a woman, she owned her life and did what she thought she had to and wanted to do when she did it and there is nothing wrong in that'' maybe Triple HHH should worry less about a Woman doing porn and worry more about how he raises his kids, you raise your children to view Women as more than a life support system for a Vagina, you raise them to realise people make choices in life and then live with them, you also raise them to know that its not your job to judge other people for what they may or may not have done.

Sunday, 10 April 2016

So Ok if you didnt read the first of these then maybe go back
and read it as I outline what I am doing here and also warn people to
maybe not take it too seriously, I actually think there was a pretty
cool and deep warning in the last one, but I dont intend all of them to
be quiet that plain, not sure how many I will do but I am certainly not
going to cover every rule or do them in order, as can proberbly be
gatherd from the fact I started with the 3rd rule.
I here by point you to the 40th of the rule of Acquisition ''she can
touch your lobes, but never your latinum'' This is illustrated in the
following excerpt from Ferengi erotica '' As her delicate fingersteased
his lobe, he could feel her free hand crawling like a romulan fire
spider down his body. Her nails raked his thigh. He stiifend as he felt
her hand close warmly and squeeze tightly around his money pouch.. and
with a might heve, he lifeted her up into his arms, took one step
forward and tossed her out of the window...''

Ok so how does this apply to real life? Well for a start the rules of
Aquisition are written for Ferengi males but I am dealing with them as
rules which may or may not help a male or female hew-mon. So am I saying
that anyone who wants money should be tossed out of a window? Well it
would certainly help any of us hew-mons who value latinum above and
beyond all else thats for sure. Do I think its a good rule overall
though, well thats far more complex. I think
if one side is looking at the other ones wallet or purse and smiling
more than they do when looking at that persons face then it is seriously time for the wallet/purse holder to
stop and think about if the other person really likes them or if they like what they
can get from them. So I guess that what I am saying is if someone cares
more about your money and about what you can get for them with your
money than the love you can give, the bits of your soul you can share
with them and the way you can make them feel then perhapse its time not
to toss them out of a window but to seriously consider tossing them out
of your life.

Dont get me wrong its lovely to be romantic and grab someone flowers
or a random present or to take them to dinner and pay to show how much
you appreciate them but if someone wants more and more and never seems
satisifed and keeps holding there hand out even if they can see you cant
really afford it then its not a good relationship.. I dont think I can
quiet quote the 40th of the rule of Acquisition here ''she can touch
your lobes, but never your latinum'', maybe its cause I am a soft sod,
becuase I believe in giving someone your with nice gifts and more than
that if I had a £20 and even a friend was in dire need and I could
afford to give them it then I would so I guess in this case Id have to
say make sure that he or she wants you for whats between your lobes and
not your latinum

Saturday, 9 April 2016

Well the fact that we have just had another WWE hall of fame induction ceremony has reminded me that it has been far to long since I have talked about the hall of fame. Last time I talked about the inductions for 2004 and 2005 so I think its a little obvious what I am going to look at now is 2006 sure im kind of slowing things down by only looking at one year but I think it was a year with several important inductions that deserve talking about to some degree of depth.

In 2006 Bret "Hit Man" Hart, the excelencnce of exiqution, singles wrestler and former member of the tag team the Hart Foundation was inducted into the hall of fame by Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was a very obvious unsurprising entry given for a start how well loved the Hart Foundation was during early WWF events add on to that that he wwas a Five-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion, two-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, co-winner of the 1994 Royal Rumble and a two-time King of the Ring winner (1991 and 1993) and I think most people would find it hard to question his place in the hall of fame. I dont know if he really is as he claimed the best there ever was and the best there ever will be but I certainly dont think his status as a legend can be questioned. Also given the amazing match that Hart and Austin had against each other I think they picked a pretty good person to do the induction.

Eddie Guerrero, Eduardo Gory "Eddie" Guerrero Llanes, was a Mexican-American professional wrestler and much like Bret Hart he came from a very important family he wass a member of the Guerrero wrestling family. He performed in Mexico and Japan for several major professional wrestling promotions, and in the United States, performed for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Guerrero's gimmick was that of "Latino Heat," an intelgent sneaky wrestler who would do whatever it took to win a match, it didnt matter if he was a villian or a hero at the time he always had this cheat if yo can get away with it gimic. He had the catchphrase "I Lie! I Cheat! I Steal!" and was used in one of his entrance theme. Many have claimed that he was one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time including CM Punk and Sasha Banks, Gerald Brisco, Dusty Rhodes and Paul "Triple H" Levesque. His list of accomplishments might not be the longest with him being a One-time WWE Champion, two-time WCW/WWE United States Champion and two-time WWF/WWE Intercontinental Champion. I think few people would be able to claim he wasnt a real loss to the business and the world in general, and I certainly think he deserved his posthumous induction.

This year also saw "Mean" Gene Okerlund Long-time AWA, WCW, and WWF/E interviewer and announcer added to the hall of fame. Now the thing is when people think about the hall of fame they tend to think about wrestlers but wrestlers are only a part of the product, sure they put there bodies at risk to tell the stories we watch but there are so many more layers to providing the best shows than that. Mean Gene was an absolutly awesome announcer who always knew what to say to build up a match or event, he played really well of others and the man just helped add this extra layer of magic over everything. In my oppinion his inclusion in the hall of fame is more than just, the business wouldnt be where it is today if not for the effort he put into it.

If you have looked through all of the inductions so far then you will proberbly notice that there has not really with one exception been any women inducted, well 2006 saw the count double to a grand 2 with the induction of Sherri Schrull AKA Sherri Russell, Sherri Martel, Sensational Sherri, Sensattional Queen Sherri. To people of my generation she is proberbly best known for being a heel manager a part she played so awesomly that as a child of that time I couldnt help but hate her with all I had but she was so much more than that. For a start she wasnt just a manager in her career she was also an American professional wrestler who started joined the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in the mid-1980s and held its AWA World Women's Championship a total of three times. In the late 1980s, she joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where she held the WWF Women's Championship. The WWF basically more or less gave up on the idea of having female wrestlers for a time and it was during this period that she became a manager to wrestlers such as Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, and Shawn Michaels, she was often a key point in story lines and often interfered in the procedings, she was a wonderful love to hate villian responsible for a lot of the best moments of various main events in her time. She also appeared in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the 1990s, in the latter she had a particularly memorable stint as the manager for the tag team Harlem Heat. She even managed to make an apperance in TNA before her death. I think Sherri was capable of a lot more wrestling wise than she got to show, but rather than cry or dissapear she showed that she could find a new lease of life as a great manager and I think this more than earns her a fair and valid place in the hall of fame. As a kid I would have told you that she was total garbage and shouldnt be allowed at ringside but as an adult I can see that she made so many matches and moments far more memorable, it aint easy being the villian but great vilians make for great TV.

Tony Atlas, born as Anthony White was not only a professional wrestler he was also an American bodybuilder, and powerlifter, who has held multiple titles and championships in each sport. He is also known by his bodybuilding title, "Mr. USA" (a distinction he earned three times). As for his WWE career well he was a one-time WWF Tag Team Champion, in fact he was half of the first ever African American WWF World Tag Team Championship winning duo with Rocky Johnson. WWF/WWE wasnt the only wrestling promoion he worked for he also managed to work for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions, the World Wrestling Council (WWC), World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), and the American Wrestling Association (AWA). I have to really admit that he is not really someone I ever followed or was a big fan of, in fact I dont remember ever watching any of his matches back in the day, he is someone I have heard a lot about and I can understand his entry into the haall of fame but I dont really feel qualified to say if he does or does not deserve his place.

Then there is Laverne Clarence "Verne" Gagne. The man was not only an American professional wrestler, he has also been a football player, a wrestling trainer, and a wrestling promoter. He was the owner and promoter of the American Wrestling Association (AWA) until it folded. Gagne was a 16-time World Heavyweight Champion, having held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship ten times, the World Heavyweight Championship (Omaha version) five times, and the IWA World Heavyweight Championship once. He is one of only six men inducted into not only the WWE hall of fame but also the , WCW, Professional Wrestling, and Wrestling Observer Newsletter halls of fame. Again this is not someone who I really know of from my time watching wrestling, he is more someone I have read about but I have to admit that I can see why they would add him.

As for this year in general I think it was a good year induction wise, I think some really brilliant people were put in, and there is not a single person who I feel that I could really stop and go ''oh why him, why now''. However there was one team/group inducted this year The Blackjacks who held the WWF World Tag Team Championship one time. The team consisted of BlackJack Mulligan (Robert Windham) three time NWA United States Heavyweight Champion and one time NWA World Tag Team Champion and BlackJack Lanza (Jak Lanza) one time AWA World Tag team Champion. Maybe part of it is the fact that a lot of there career was before my time but I think there are teams who as a unit did far more, maybe these fellas would have been better of being looked at as Individuals but I dont think as a team they deserve a place in the hall of fame. I can think of other teams I would rather see in but I will keep that for a seperate blog post.

Saturday, 2 April 2016

Hello my fellow hew-mons, now I want to get a few things clear before I start, one I am a Geek, a Nerd and a Trek lover, 2 this is done largly for fun so if you take offense at something remember to add a pinch of salt as this is largly done for chuckles. Now I have always liked the Ferengi maybe its because when I shave my head with my big ears I look like one, or maybe its the fact they basically exist to make a mockery of capitalism or its because they dont allow there women to have clothes, or just maybe its because they are so darn funny.

I sat and I thought about all the wonderful rules of Acquisitain the Ferengi have and the legends they have which are the basis for them and I thought you know something wouldnt it be great to pick a bit of fun and relate a few of them to life and to love? Then I thought I bet someone else has already done it but then I decided oh what the hell everythings already been done on the simpsons and thats never stopedd family guy from doing there own take. As well as taking the pee there also might be a moral or two in here

So I am going to start with the 3rd Rule of Aquisition which is ''Never pay more for an Aquisition than you have to'' Now I dont agree with all of the ferengi laws but you can bet if I am going to buy a T shirt or a DVD that I follow this one to the core, I look around I find the best price and thats what I pay because well I want my money to get me the most it can. The ferengi tale around this one says that once on Ferenginar when the planet was young there were the Ferengi and the gree both races where huge splendid creatures with beauty and dangerous talents but there god made them have a bidding war for control of the planet, the gree gave away so much for the right to control the planet that they became pathetic little slug creatures. Originaly they had dangerous razor teeth, long claws, poisoned barbs, large bodies, power strength and they sold it all. When this had been done the Ferengi just ate them up like a snack there by learning the 3rd rule of Aquisitiation. ''Never pay more for an Aquisition than you have to''

Well were can I connect this concept to love you might ask ah well what do you think dating is all about my fellow hew-mons, its about the characterstics and personality traits you have to offer at the bartering table, the art of dating might be seen as selling your person as merchandise. I have already talked about how people show diffrent aspects of there personality to diffrent people and thats fine thats normal what is not normal is when you hide elements of yourself to make you seem like a better sell. If you sell off your sense of humour because it annoys someone then you become less yourself just like the gree did when they sold there razor sharp teeth. if this goes on and on you might become less of the man or woman you are and more of a slug, and we all know what happened to the gree they became a snack to be chewed on and spat out. Now I am not saying dont dance in his or her beauty dont enhale the scent of her hair dont put your best foot forward and show him or her all the wonderfulness of your personality and why your worth more than gold pressed latinum just make sure that you remember the 3rd rule of Acquisition ''Never pay more for an Aquisition than you have to'' the more in this case being loosing sight of who you really are..

Friday, 1 April 2016

Well in all honesty it is another month when I have not really gotten that much and there is not any massive grand reason really, it was my daughters birthday so I did conccentrate more on making sure she got the things she wanted but I certainly had the money with which I could have gone a little game buying crazy, I just didnt seem to want to. In honesty if it wasnt for one purchse this month there wouldnt be much point in writing this at all, so I might as well get down to talking about what I picked up.

My first purachse was on Thursday March the 10th. I spent £4 to get Pilot Academy boxed complete
for the psp, The simpons Game boxed and complete for the psp and Lego
starwars 2 boxed and complete for the psp (platinum version). This was from GAME and I did it on my way to work, none of them are exactly incredble finds but seeing anything for the psp in my local GAME which isent a football game s suprising and I had never seen Pilot Academy before and it peeked my intrest.

The above was gotten from a charity shop, but a charity shop which usually checks ebay and asks for the going rate for a game, but for some reason maybe because they wanted to shift the stock fast they had just stuck a £30 sticker on the whole lot, when I have walked in there and seen them ask for £30 for single Playstation, Saturn and N64 games before. I basically really wanted Twisted metal and knew it goes for a lot more on itts own, kind of wanted Mortal Kombat Trilogy and Mobile Light force as well and just thought I better get this off there hands before they decide to change there minds and price everything up individually after all World Tour usually always tends to go for over £40 on its own, and its in brilliant condition.

On Thursdaay March the 17th I walked into game and got Inazuma Eleven for the DS complete £3 a fair reduction from the £12.99 they wanted for it only 6 months ago, I guess they are wanting to gey shot of a lot of there DS stock. On the 25th I went back and got Last Window The Secret of Cape West complete for the DS for £4 and that is all of my purchases for the month.

I am most happy that I finally have a real copy of one of the PS1 twisted metal game as I used to enjoy playing these with my brother a lot, I had always meant to grab at least one of them but the price just seemed to have climbed and climbed and I was happy with the prospect of paying over £40 after postage for one of them offline.

Will next month be any better? I dont think so. The thing is if I wanted to get the games that I want and pay the going rate for them then I would be swimming in stuff but in honesty I only like to get something if it is a bargain and I also think sticking to this kind of a rule stops me from getting so much stuff thhat it is just pouring out of my windows.. We all only hve so much space after all.